DISQUS

turoczy · 8 months ago

Portland, Oregon's @travelportland has been experimenting with providing tourist information via Twitter. Just hashtag your question with #inpdx and they'll respond.

Philip Downer · 8 months ago

One of the biggest factors that is commonly overlooked is "Don't forget the locals!"

9 times out of 10, a potential visitor who's involved in social media will be asking a local where to eat, stay or recreate. By forging strong community ties, and promoting your presence to year-round residents, you'll always be on the tip of the social media tongue.

Many areas, especially those with a strong outdoor following such as ski resorts or national parks, have a slower season. Identify your strongest selling points for those times of year and be prepared to use social media to promote deals coupled with fewer crowds.

pam · 8 months ago

wow, thanks for this, chris. i'm on a blogger's panel at the oregon gov's conference on tourism next week, and one of the questions on my list from the moderator is "what advice do you have for tourism pros?" my answer may very well include "read this post."

Rachel Pearson · 8 months ago

This is what Scottsdale, Ariz., is doing - we have an official Twitter account @ScottsdaleAZ, but also about half a dozen other employees who respond to anyone asking about Scottsdale so we can respond to people asking for recommendations for things to do, places to stay, restaurants to dine at, etc. So far, so good.

Bill Leonard · 8 months ago

Just wanted to echo what Phillip said. We build sites for destinations, and the local perspective lends a strong hand to improving the destination web experience.

Tying that into social media tools like Twitter is tailor-made for making visitors feel welcome and familiar before they ever set foot in your destination!

SocialMediaMum · 8 months ago

I completely agree with your suggestions, and also think having come from Tourism myself, i feel Websites are lacking in usability and engagement. Most are messy or have old information. This I think is paramount in coverting your effort into sales. Those who have been succesful have lead to the slow demise of Travel Agents and the ROI for web development and Social Marketing is immediately measured in commission savings..

Great Post Chris.

Anne Bain · 8 months ago

Hi Chris
Great post and some very insightful comments re the tourism industry. I for one am about to move my website on to wordpress and see if this makes a difference in getting the word out. I am a general retailer of travel but in a niche area so once this move is complete I am going to start another twitter account just for this part of my business. Any ideas for someone to go to to help move my site across would be appreciated.

chrisbrogan · 8 months ago

@Anne - I might recommend the folks at WeFixWP.com. They're really helpful.

ourgeneration · 4 months ago

Chris, just wanted to let you know that I actually made the transition myself(pat on the back) but thanks for the recommendation though. The new site is now on wp at http://www.ourgenerationtravel.com

Lee Hart · 8 months ago

I'd like to reinforce what you're essentially saying here which is tourism marketers need to let go! Let go of the tight grip on messaging about a destination or attraction. We're in the age of the democratization of information and that extends to the travel industry as well. Leisure travel is all about the experience while you're there and the memories you get to share when you get home. Let the people speak - locals, as Philip reminds, and visitors.

Geri Druckman · 8 months ago

Hello from Down South!
Chris, it's time for another visit to Houston, crepes and drinks on me this time.

Really great article, and I couldn't agree more about so many things you wrote. A more engaging/interacting site can give so much more than a plain "brochure" static site. I also carry a Flip video camera clipped to my backbag, so I have it with me at all time, and it's so easy to use.

DanTraveling · 8 months ago

Nice Chris, I am not a tourism person, but we have so many people say "Hey I went to see that place you posted a video/twittered/blogged about" May I suggest that tourism locations share their history and culture through every social outlet available. A cultural Marketing approach I suppose.
Great stuff
DanT

DanTraveling · 8 months ago

ps. Phil, great comment about locals. Example we posted a video on YouTube about an Exhibition Coal Mine located in Pocahontas, VA. 100,000 views worldwide. With YouTube Insight/analytics we were stunned to see that roughly 60% located within 1/2 day to one day driving distance. Nearly Identical results for all of our Historical Sites and museums.... hhmmm

Meagen · 8 months ago

As a traveler, I don't just want to see the local sites, I want to experience life in the place I visit. On your website, give me a taste of the locals. Link to the interesting blogs from people in your area, the ones who are funny, the ones who are interesting, and especially the ones who can give point me to good local restaurants, the most interesting local shows, or the best place to swim/fish/ski/whatever. Other social networking tools (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) can be used for this as well. Basically, become my resource for the "real" view of your area, and make me feel like I already know people before I arrive. That's what a good concierge does - make your website my concierge. You can collect resources rather than create a lot of new content, and you can scale what you provide to fit the time you have to maintain it.

chrisbrogan · 8 months ago

It's interesting to consider how many ways tourism groups could use new media tools to augment the experience. Imagine using Flip video tours, or giving out the list of best local bands to consider, or grouping tour information around verticals like "A Skateboarder's Guide to Paris." : )

Audio podcasts of info would always be useful, too, eh?

MrsDesperate · 8 months ago

I'm an Aussie journalist and travel writer who is now living in Auckland. I find the tourism industry very amateurish and backward compared to Australia, where the tourism PR/media departments go out of their way to help journalists. Here, even approaching with a commissioned story for an international magazine, I have not been offered famils or even discounted tickets. Emails/phone calls go unanswered and when I chase them up, I've been told it isn't really their forte and to go somewhere else. Only a few send press releases in enough time for anything to be written about. I often only find out about events that would make great stories after they happen.
Most people in the tourism industry are quite grateful for the coverage, but a few have been very rude - almost as if they are doing me a favour (they obviously don't like journalists, but this is free publicity people!) Others don't have hi-resolution photos available, others are just slack at getting back to me.
I think a crash course in PR is definitely needed!

Kurow · 8 months ago

a bit sad that no comments from New Zealnd where all this started. I do wish we (NZers) would start to get it. Chris is right. Sadly we could apply this to just about every aspect of being in business. Great technicians but very average managers (per the e-myth)
Anyway thanks for the plug on the fun you have had in NZ. Still enjoying the licorise i hope.

Philip Downer · 8 months ago

Just a few words of advice for small businesses who are reaching out to tourists.

1) Create something that your website visitors want to bring with them on vacation. Great ideas include coupons (it's got to be a killer deal), area maps, a list of local night-life, public transportation/taxi telephone numbers... You get the idea! Big Sky Town Center in Montana has a great coupon section if you need an example.

Unless you're the reason that someone visits your locale, it's quite likely that there's a complete disconnect between the time they're researching and their arrival. Create a reminder!

2) As Meagen touched on above, don't be afraid to "let it go". Link to an area photographer's Flickr page; create a community blog that several businesses (including your competitors) contribute to; instead of encouraging testimonials/reviews on your own website, consider encouraging them to comment on your Google Local page.

3) Take advantage of other's SEO by doing your research. Search popular engines to see what's being written about your area, and add to the conversation. Become a trusted voice and advocate for your state's, country's or city's tourism.

4) Do NOT be afraid of criticism, thrive on it. Some small businesses shy away from social media because of the potential for criticism and/or negative PR. Take these opportunities to create conversation, find out what you messed up and learn from your mistakes. Seth Godin has an excellent article related to this topic.

5) Oftentimes, your most profitable market segment are those living closer to you rather than those living across the country. As DanTraveling discovered (see comment above), many of the visitors to their YouTube video were practically neighbors. In your quest to reach out to completely new clientele, never forget about those who are closer and who could potentially have a much greater impact on your business.

AdamD · 8 months ago

On the topic of visitor centers on Twitter, there's a great aggregation of them here:
http://twisitorcenter.com/

I'm not affiliated with the site, but I think it's pretty cool. It shows there are a number of hip tourism bureaus. Hopefully Chris' post will create some more.

Laura Powers · 8 months ago

Chris, great post for the travel and tourism market.
Don't forget that good CVB sites will include detailed maps, directions, photos, sample itineraries, up-to-date event calendars, and, of course, ad banner space to generate revenue.
All this can be done on custom blog site, as you suggest, but in my neck-of-the-woods (East Coast US) the range would be more like $6,000.
Thanks for posting!

@Todd Lucier · 1 month ago

6 Large, for something people can do themselves for like $20/yr. I guess customization is a good thing. I encourage most folks to start with a Free Wordpress Account to get started blogging. Content can easily enough be moved to a hosted wordpress blog for not much more than a few bucks and a customized theme, heck a hundred bucks can get you Thesis to play with.

Bill Leonard · 8 months ago

One other element that destinations should consider as part of their social and web presence, is to consider introducing mobile features for the guest/visitor to interact with after they have arrived. Extending their experience that they spent time planning, and putting it in their pocket to be used while their in the destination is powerful.

chrisbrogan · 8 months ago

@Laura - Took me a while to know what a CVB site meant. : ) Beware of jargon. : )

elyssa - @boulderservices · 8 months ago

Timely post! With tourism in the dumps, now more than ever its about being 'on my mind' /already have a relationship with me at the moment I am planning my next adventure (I know you). Lots of companies are out there, but not in a passionate/personal way (e.g. talk to the logo). I agree with your comment about the opportunity around verticals - as recommendations from recent vacationers and locals. There is so much activity going on already with recent vacationers and locals - they are so passionate! They are just waiting, dying for an outlet. How good would you feel if you were able to make someone's vacation experience better or be the unofficial expert on 'skateboard' vacations. What a great industry to be in. A marketers wonderland.

Rehuel · 8 months ago

After a couple of hours I came back to this post with a smile.

This article gave me an idea I jumped on right away. I will probably contact you soon for your thoughts, but for now, I'll work it out first.

Thanks for this.

@JoshHurlock · 8 months ago

One key is to have an elevator pitch about what you do, and your strengths. This comes in handy at any time, even in a casual conversation.

Thanks for the post.

Fabulous Photo Gifts · 8 months ago

Hi Chris

If we're talking about tourism here (although this applies to anything with an physical paid product or service at the end of it), then publish your prices.

If the price is such a big 'scary' factor to potential sales / usage, then you might have to work a little harder to justify it.

We've recently been searching for some coastal (UK) campsites - all we want to know is how much and availability yet very few sites actually deliver those two crucial items without a long complicated route to the info.

ChantelleNZ · 8 months ago

Hi Chris,
I was at the conference this week and found all of the presentations incredibly useful. The above post is excellent - exactly the kind of stuff many people in the NZ tourism industry need to know.
The challenge we have at the tourist board is that social media is just so far from what a lot of people here in New Zealand know and understand - especially those small business owners that are busy running their small businesses! But we know that this is where the consumers are. It was heartening to see so many tourism people at the conference this week. With that level of interest we might just get there! :) We have A LOT of learning to do in this space though and I will make sure we get a link up to your post on our website.
Also Mrs Desperate - sorry to hear you have had some challenges with our tourism industry. Would be interested to find out more about your experiences. Will drop you an email through your blog.

Candice · 8 months ago

I'm in social media at the moment but my degree is in Tourism Management and Marketing - when I studied (about 8 years ago) the importance of online marketing was barely touched on, let alone social media... Over the years I've educated myself in what was regarded as "IT" amongst my other class mates, so when I came across this post I rubbed my hands together and sent it on (unsuccessfully keeping the smirk from my face), seems I haven't been barking up the wrong tree after all ;)

Stuart Foster · 8 months ago

I think the point you are trying to make here Chris is: Try. Just go out and experiment, explore and investigate new ways to attract business. Social Media is a kick ass method to cover a lot of ground and reach a lot of new people. I especially loved the Flip Mino suggestion.

Krista Parry · 8 months ago

Chris, Thanks for the excellent tips for the tourism industry. I think the biggest point is "Let go of the control". I think there are several tourism people who are concerned about the negative comments/feedback that they will get about their resort/attraction/etc. Your point was exactly right on: "Solve the problem in public, and I promise you that you’ll see a positive response from that."

The fact is that people are talking about you both positively and negatively. Do you want to be a part of the conversation or stick your head in the sand and pretend it's not happening?

BTW, the tubing hill in Park City, Utah is calling your name!

Ben Curnett · 8 months ago

Man, I love this post. Tourism is near and dear to my heart. I like the people involved in it, I like the product... the whole idea of "experience" over material as your widget- that's for me.

We have a lot of tourism clients, and we consult with them on just about everything you've covered, chris. I really like the idea of business cards that specifically point content creators to social media. Taking that for sure.

The biggest hurdle we've found w most tourism operators is opening up to pos. public negative comments. We're working on some ways to get owners to sign on to that type of transparency.

An addition: Tourism lends itself to promotions far beyond one business. If ever there were a vertical that would get turned on to seeing a single business share ideas about other local businesses, it's in tourism. Tourism business owners who trust this process are going to benefit exponentially from it.

Chelle Yarbrough · 8 months ago

Chris - great stuff. We work only with the travel industry and those are perfect suggestions for this tough niche. One suggestion we recently gave a travel agent client was to go to her local bookstores and (with permission, of course) put pre-printed bookmarks with their website, twitter account, facebook, etc. in the not-yet-purchased books as sort of a business card, with an invitation to join their "online travel book club" - their social media community. In appreciation, the bookstore's banner ad ran on the website, so it was a win-win.

Chuck Smith · 8 months ago

There are some great ideas here, and not just for the travel industry. Any industry with some kind of experience involved - restaurants, recreation (think golf or skydiving), bands, or even fun retail - would be well-served to read this post. I particularly like the "Convert the digital to physical" section. I could see offering instant postcards for tourists at a resort destination - turn their own snapshots into postcards to send to family and friends. With instant printing, it could be done very quickly.

Lots of great material, and some good ideas to take with me. Thanks Chris!

siobhan bulfin · 8 months ago

Fantastic advice Chris and great tips from people all over-thank you! I like Meagan from Rockcreek's (Strategic Marketing) comment: "Give me a taste of the locals". Link to local blogs or interesting local sites. Locals in all their eccentricities make the place!
We have the advice, ideas tips. Now we need to act on them.
Siobhan Bulfin
Marketing Now!
Wellington, New Zealand

Greg Lawrence · 8 months ago

Excellent post Chris.meeting with an online travel specialist yesterday one of the most common queries they get is "What can I do there?" Despite all the great information available many/most either do not have or do not take the time to research there own vacation. Tp paraphrase what Meaghan said a few posts back 'cut to the chase" give me what I am interested in quickly and not all gussied up so I can get on with finding the good stuff in a short time.
Greg Lawrence
Talk'N Tours
Australia

Guillaume · 8 months ago

It is interesting that your post is centered on this topic in the day following artciles on Techcrunch and Mashable about the revamp Nile Guide Website. Have you had a look at it?? I think it might be a good answer. What do you think?? http://www.nileguide.com/

frank · 8 months ago

GREAT post Chris. I think these steps apply to pretty much any business or nonprofit. Obviously there are always differences with respect to the overall strategy, tools being used, action plan, ect ... but what you have outlined can be adopted by anyone with some thought and planning. This makes me want to think through how a nonprofit could use this for fundraising events such as Athletes fora Cure, The Heart Walk, Jumps and Hoops, etc...

Wheels turning. Maybe i could guest post here :)

http://twitter.com/franswaa

Krishee · 8 months ago

hmmm. talking about promoting tourism..glad that i had visited this site.. I should say, "why dont you consider the locals".. i mean, local tourist spots just like in the philippines..
Visit our site:

Krishee · 8 months ago

hmmm. talking about promoting tourism..glad that i had visited this site.. I should say, “why dont you consider the locals”.. i mean, local tourist spots just like in the philippines..
Visit our site:Whitewater Rafting[http://www.cdokay.com/cdo.ph/try-mo.html]

Nicola Burgess · 8 months ago

Great post Chris. Thanks. I will be circulating your advice amongst our tourism industry and revamping our website. The Marketing Now! conference was fantastic and I'm completely inspired about the potential for our tourism sector. Next time you're here, I'll know you're here and let's hope you can visit White Island www.whiteisland.co.nz as it's something truly amazing.
Nicola Burgess
Tourism Eastern Bay of Plenty
Whakatane, New Zealand

MickG · 8 months ago

Thanks Chris for a GREAT post. Unfortunately I wasnt at the conference - but wished I had been there :-) It's great to see such a collection of experts in the online field, and nice too that NZ businesses/ organisations are embracing the potential that there is on the web.

Out of interest, and because you mentioned White Island, I'd like to let people know about their Twitter Page - http://twitter.com/whiteislanders -

Being in the Web Marketing Field here in NZ, I helped them recently get started in the right direction by setting them up a Twitter profile, a new blog page - http://whiteislanders.wordpress.com/ and also assisting them rework their website.

I'd like to add my own thoughts and ideas to the 'mix' by sharing my own 'stuff'....

- My Website
- My Blog
- My Twitter Page

Thanks again Chris. Have a safe trip back to the States.

Regards
Mick

Sarah Page · 8 months ago

Chris,
You just keep those good ideas coming. I'm in the tourism industry, and though your post is focused on tourism, you prove here that marketing is marketing is marketing. Good, solid marketing concepts can be applied to any industry ... with only a bit of tweaking sometimes.

Your thoughts on tidying up the web presence has been overlooked in the comments so far. Having a visually appealing website that is chock full of good content about a destination is crucial. Making it user-friendly is the next step.

I work with many small, rural chambers of commerce. The staff there wear many hats. Unfortunately, websites are not always a priority. They should be.

I'd like to suggest some great tourism folks for you to follow on Twitter. They know their stuff and consistently have great information to share. Here they are:
@anneh632 - the voice of @VisitChicago
@curtmoss - WebLink International
@oregonkat - voice behind @travelcoosbay
@travelcoosbay - Check out this link (http://allanjenkins.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/...). Incredible use of social media to promote a destination.

Great post, as always, Chris!

Deb · 8 months ago

Chris,
I just returned from a FAM tour of Hutchinson KS. They invited 12 bloggers to come down, stay 3 days and see the sites, sounds, food, and fun. @beckymccray, @sheilas, @billgx, @toddvogts, @okiej, @debworks, @wichitacindy, @patsyterrell, @superdumb were the bloggers who made it.

We interviewed, tweeted, blogged, flickred and videoed the town for three days. It was amazing! You can follow some of it at #hutch on search.twitter.com

@codyks was one of the organizers and he set up one of the most amazing tours of a town I've been on. You can bet I'll be sharing our trip with lots of people!

Now the media people could have spent boucoup bucks on a national print ad for the month - in other words, do what they always do. They took a chance and stepped out there into the social media sphere. I believe they got their money's worth!

@debworks

Deb · 8 months ago

p.s. FAM is short for familiarization

Patsy Terrell · 8 months ago

What you say here is so true. I write about places I visit all the time and get questions from people about what they can see/do there. Sometimes that's about the community where I live, and sometimes places I travel to. Our community of Hutchinson Kansas just hosted a blogger fam tour - I had nothing to do with setting it up, but they invited me to participate even though I'm local. It had to have been pretty inexpensive compared to other things tourism folks do. And having people give you essentially word of mouth advertising on blogs, twitter, etc. is priceless. #hutch on twitter

Julie Williams · 8 months ago

Excellent timely insight for the current marketplace. Often research places to visit and get similar viewpoint from selling aspect if the website is static, slightly limited on visitor experience. Here's the amazing thing: I came across this post via a tweet ( @SebastianJ ) and before I visited Chris's blog I linked through to Sebastian's blog, to read that he's blogging from Sydney having read his tweet stream, this led me onto to go and 'see it for myself' and that's what interests me about travel-blogs real life/current experiences (live, interactive, visual, appeal)

jamie · 8 months ago

Hi Chris: My advice to CVBs is pay close attention to the smaller outlets with authentic voice and conversational vibe. My site, www.travelsavvymom.com, may not have the traffic of TripAdvisor (but really, who does?), but my users book trips and hotel stays based on my advice all the time. Those people who find us with a search term that includes the words "family friendly", are usually ready to pull the trigger.

Rich · 8 months ago

great potential engagement ideas...

Authentic Seacoast Resorts · 8 months ago

Greetings from the Nova Scotia Authentic Seacoast in Atlantic Canada! We loved reading your post, Chris. Some really great ideas we're going to look adding into our social media mix. We have found Twitter to be a great tool for building relationships with potential guests, travel writers, locals, food & wine writers and people interested in coastal living and culture. We have even taken our first reservation on Twitter. We look forward to implementing some of your ideas to get our guests even more engaged in the community we're building online. You can visit us on Twitter at:

http://twitter.com/AuthenticCoast

Thanks again for your advice. We look forward to continuing the discussion with you.

San Diego Tim · 8 months ago

Great blog post & great comments. Local San Diego tourism groups have been inviting me to share how I use Twitter & Blogs to promote my San Diego travel web site. I see there's still plenty more for me to do and share with others in order to take full advantage of social media.

My recommendation: Don't wait to implement your strategy or you will fall further behind the learning curve. Take steps each day to get ahead of the pack. Otherwise, you will have a very big hill to climb as social media continues to evolve and becomes and ever bigger part of promoting one's business.

- @SanDiegoTim

Kelly Stewart · 8 months ago

Hi Chris

I really enjoyed your session in Wellington at the Marketing Now conference - now I am just trying to digest it all and work out where to from here.

You tips have been very helpful and timely given that we are in the middle of rebuilding our website. i do have many questions as i am tiotally new to this environment so i will keep in touch.

virginislandstv · 7 months ago

As someone just getting started in all this, I found your post to be simple, to the point and a lot less daunting than all the rest!! thanks!

Stephen Joyce · 5 months ago

Excellent post Chris. I'm surprised I didn't see this one earlier. A lot of what you discuss in your post revolves around the central idea of connecting and creating relationships with people. Making the site more interactive, inviting bloggers to interact, encourage sharing of media, all revolve around the central premise of engagement and interaction. This is especially true with tourism sites because tourism is all about experiences and what better way to promote an experience then through the sharing of stories, images, and video.

jose.gonzalez@tourismbc.com · 1 month ago

Great post Chris! Just found read this now. Here's my take:

On our destination marketing organization (dmo) website, we have a blog set up - hellobc.com/blogs. It works well but it does need improvements. One specific improvement is displaying recent comments (as you suggested). I think if users see interaction within the site that may encourage participation. Also adding profile info on our bloggers would help in getting users to identify with our blog personalities and their posts.

One specific social media project that has been a huge success is our field reporter program. We hired field reporters and sent them to various parts of British Columbia (youtube.com/bcfieldreporter). It was a great way to create awareness for our province and it encouraged other community dmo's to participate i.e. either hiring their own or using our field reporter to cover their community.